Young voices in Games training as schedule unveiled

Thursday 19 March 2015

With 100 days to go until it all kicks off a new group the schedule of events has been announced and a new group have been warming up their voices for this summer’s NatWest Island Games.

The schedules and fixtures for the week-long games has been revealed today, and organisers have announced that two children from each of Jersey's primary schools have been picked to sing in a special choir that will represent the Island at the opening ceremony in June.

The schedule for the games, which will see 3,000 competitors from 24 islands competing in 14 sports, has gone online at the NatWest Island Games official website.

And officials say that 60 youngsters aged between eight and 11 are now in training as the Jersey Youth Choir prepares to take centre stage at the start of the event on 27 June with two performances of Beautiful Jersey – once in Jèrriais and once in English.

The youngsters will be taught phonetically how to sing the Games' official anthem in the Island’s native tongue.

Head of the Music Service Dr Graeme Cox, who is leading the choir said: “It’s going to be interesting. I’m excited about what the choir is going to become. It will be a huge transformation and a huge journey for the children.

"It is wonderful to be working with such an enthusiastic and diverse group. We are only in our second week of preparations, but already we have identified some fine voices and the youngsters are starting to bond into a cohesive choir.”

The Jersey Youth Orchestra will accompany the new choir and there are plans for a big concert at Fort Regent on Saturday 13 June, two weeks before the Games, when the choir and all the Island’s youth bands and orchestras will be performing.

More than 900 sporting events will take place during Jersey 2015, and almost all of them will be free to attend without tickets.

The organisers say there will be limited seating at a small number of events and are planning “fairly-allocated” ticketing for these.

They are setting up five large screens – three in the Games village at Howard Davis Park, one at Liberation Square and one outside the parish hall in St Augin so that everyone can watch the key events even if they can’t get tickets.

The only thing that will come at a cost is the opening ceremony and tickets will be going on sale for this soon.